PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY

Transcription

1 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 1 2-JUL-12 11:49 PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY Robert Rubinson* I. INTRODUCTION... 8 R II. OVERVIEW: THE UNITARY PROFESSION R A. The Rhetoric of Attorney Independence : Two Historical Antecedents R 1. John Adams and the Boston Massacre R 2. Abraham Lincoln and the Country Lawyer R B. The Current Ideal of Generalism and Attorney Independence R III. PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY DEFINED R A. Llewellyn s Crucial Insight: Specialization Breeds Counter-Specialization R B. Llewellyn s Insight Extended: Good Versus Evil R IV. C. The Lawyer as Moral Crusader and Charlatan R PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY IN TWO CONTEXTS R A. The Personal Injury Wars R 1. The Professional Identity of the Plaintiff s Bar R a. Fighting for You R b. Your Rights R c. The Other R 2. Counterattack: Professional Identity and the Defense Bar R a. A Creation Myth R b. The Litigation Explosion R i. Of Seesaws and Childhood Obesity R ii. Of McDonald s and Million Dollar Pants R 3. Battle Is Joined R B. Criminal Justice R * Dean Gilbert A. Holmes Professor of Clinical Theory and Practice, University of Baltimore School of Law. The Author gratefully acknowledges the receipt of a University of Baltimore Summer Research Fellowship to support the completion of this Article. The Author also expresses gratitude to Randi E. Schwartz for her continuing support. 7

2 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 2 2-JUL-12 11:49 8 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE LAW REVIEW [VOL. 31:7 1. Overreaching Prosecutors: Political Ambition and Ego R 2. Returning the Favor: How Can You Defend Those People? R V. TWO SPECIAL CASES: LOW-INCOME CLIENTS AND BIG FIRM LAWYERS R A. Professional Identity in Search of an Audience: Advocacy on Behalf of Low-Income Clients R B. Professional Identity as Proxy for Status: The Big Firm Lawyer R 1. The Elite as Professional Identity R 2. A Scandal Every Now and Then R VI. THE IMPOSSIBILITY AND INEVITABILITY OF CHANGE R A. The Impossibility of Change R B. The Inevitability of Change R C. And What of Organizational and Low-Income Representation? R VII. CONCLUSION R The legal profession adheres to a story of a unified profession. Nevertheless, the profession has distinct professional sub-groups which repeatedly represent clients with interests adverse to those represented by attorneys who identify with other sub-groups. The idea of professional identity as advocacy describes how such professional sub-groups accuse opposing subgroups of greed, self-aggrandizement, or worse. This is most notable in two areas: personal injury litigation and criminal cases. This process has two seemingly contradictory consequences. First, it renders narrow areas extraordinarily visible, thus defining popular discourse and conceptions about lawyers and law. Second, it masks vast areas of litigation and law that have a fundamental impact on social justice yet do not generate the profile triggered where professional identity as advocacy is at its most intense. This Article explores the nature and consequences of professional identity as advocacy and examines the degree to which this dynamic can or should change. I. INTRODUCTION The legal profession adheres to a story of a single, unified profession. The Rules of Professional Conduct, with only minor exceptions, apply to all lawyers, whatever type of law they practice. 1 Qualifications to obtain admission to the bar graduation from law school, character and fitness review, the bar exam itself similarly operate under the assumption that 1. See infra text accompanying notes

3 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 3 2-JUL-12 11: ] PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY 9 lawyers follow identical norms however divergent the type of law they ultimately pursue. 2 Groups of lawyers, however, have distinct professional sub-identities that distinguish them from other segments of the profession, particularly when the two segments repeatedly represent clients with adverse interests. This is most notable in the two areas that most capture popular and political attention: personal injury litigation and criminal justice. Popular culture defines these areas as what the practice of law is. 3 It is precisely in these areas that a process I call professional identity as advocacy is most strident and fundamental. This process entails one group of practitioners advocating on behalf of themselves as an in group against an out group, while another group of practitioners view the situation in reverse: they view themselves as the in group and the prior in group as the out group. The crux of the professional identity concept is that these distinct professional groups oppose one another over and over again, and, as a result, each accuses the other of greed, self-aggrandizement, or worse. As articulated in this discourse, the stakes of who wins this battle are extraordinary: each side carries the banner of the public good all the public good. The result evokes classic narratives of good versus evil. Such narratives not only embody archetypes of good and evil, but also the monumental consequences that hinge on the battle s outcome: the fate of the world, sometimes quite literally, hangs in the balance, dependent on whether the good guys defeat the bad guys. 4 A striking dimension of professional advocacy as identity is that it surfaces only in these relatively limited areas of practice. Other hugely important segments of the profession operate almost completely under the radar screen. One example is commercial litigation, which ordinarily entails highly resourced clients who almost always employ large law firms. As a rule, large law firms have professional identity only insofar as they represent large organizations. There is no moral or political spin to their client list: in most instances a large organization opposes another large organization. 5 It is not the people against a criminal : it is not the little guy against the bad guy. Another example of under the radar screen litigation is the extraordinarily large number of litigants who litigate in mass justice courts. 6 There is indeed professional identity as advocacy in this arena, with a corps of lawyers representing, in most cases, more heavily resourced parties creditors, landlords, the government against a tiny corps of lawyers who provide free legal services to low-income litigants, albeit a small percentage of them. The irony here, though, is that there are so few lawyers with so 2. See infra text accompanying notes See supra text accompanying notes See ANTHONY G. AMSTERDAM & JEROME BRUNER, MINDING THE LAW (2000) (quoting ELAINE PAGELS, THE ORIGIN OF SATAN 105 (1995) (referring to stories embodying cultural norms which draw the battle lines between the sons of light and the sons of darkness )). 5. See infra text accompanying note See infra text accompanying notes

4 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 4 2-JUL-12 11:49 10 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE LAW REVIEW [VOL. 31:7 few resources engaged in this arena that the battle, to a large extent, remains invisible. A further irony is that this invisibility masks the massive social costs and tragic consequences underlying this type of litigation. Put another way, here is an area where a little professional identity as advocacy might not be such a bad thing, but a key ingredient to get the stories told to a wider audience resources does not exist. All of these dynamics have multiple consequences. It contributes to the low regard in which the profession is held because stories of professional gain at the expense of the public good tend to tarnish all lawyers. The entrenched battle lines and demonization of the other inhibit professional collaboration outside individual client representation. Such collaboration might enhance the administration of justice and legal reform in both civil and criminal law. It also obscures the deplorable state of access to justice. This Article explores these issues in five parts. The first part traces the history of specialization within the legal profession. The second part explores the cognitive and social basis for professional advocacy the creation of in groups and out groups. The third part describes the two primary examples of professional advocacy that capture the attention of the public: personal injury litigation and criminal justice. The fourth part tackles two areas that, for very different reasons, are not subject to public scrutiny: commercial litigation involving large business enterprises and individual representation in courts of mass justice. The final part explores the consequences of professional identity as advocacy on the profession and society more generally. 7 II. OVERVIEW: THE UNITARY PROFESSION A first step in examining professional identity as advocacy is to trace the arc of attorneys identity over time. Virtually every discussion that excoriates the current state of the profession 8 recalls a misty past where the 7. I will not address two trends in the legal profession that have been covered in detail elsewhere. One is the socioeconomic, racial, and gender trends within the profession. See RICHARD L. ABEL, AMERICAN LAWYERS 85, 109 (1989). See also LAWRENCE M. FRIEDMAN, A HISTORY OF AMERI- CAN LAW (3d ed. 2005). Another is the decline of professionalism. There are innumerable bar journal articles on the subject of a growing number of civility codes that seek to reign in the Rambo tactics of litigators. For some academic treatments of the subject, see Christopher J. Piazzaola, Ethical Versus Procedural Approaches to Civility: Why Ethics 2000 Should Have Adopted a Civility Rule, 74 U. COLO. L. REV (2003); Warren E. Burger, The Decline of Professionalism, 61 TENN. L. REV. 1 (1993). For an overview of cases involving uncivil lawyers, see Josh O Ohara, Creating Civility: Using Reference Group Theory to Improve Inter-Lawyer Relations, 31 VT. L. REV. 965, (2007). In contrast, for a critique of the civility debate as reflecting powerful interests within the bar itself, see Amy R. Mashburn, Professionalism as Class Ideology: Civility Codes and Bar Hierarchy, 28 VAL. U. L. REV. 657 (1994). These themes are of great importance and I will refer to them at times, but my purpose here is to address professional segmentation that generates political and moral differentiation between categories of clients and the lawyers that represent them. 8. Consider the following statement of Carl T. Bogus: The legal profession is dead or dying. It is rotting away into an occupation. On this, those assembled at the bedside concur.... Carl T. Bogus, The Death of an Honorable Profession, 71 IND. L.J. 911, 911 (1996).

5 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 5 2-JUL-12 11: ] PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY 11 profession truly was a profession characterized by integrity and professional service offered to all comers. 9 This section will examine this idea as well as the notion that all lawyers are part of a common enterprise characterized by unity of goal and identity. A. The Rhetoric of Attorney Independence : Two Historical Antecedents A classic conception of what being a lawyer is involves decoupling clients cases from the advocate. 10 Such decoupling creates a peculiar relationship: passionate advocacy on behalf of someone (or, in the case of businesses, something) with the advocacy distinct from an attorney s personal beliefs. I will trace two historical examples that illustrate this paradigm of independent advocacy. 1. John Adams and the Boston Massacre John Adams represented British soldiers accused of murder in the Boston Massacre. This relatively unknown fact 11 perhaps inconsistent with the prevailing narrative of patriots against loyalists demonstrates that in Adams time the virtues of representing the despised even those whom the attorney might otherwise despise was alive and well. Consider the following entry from Adams Diary from 1773, where he reflects on his role in the Boston Massacre trial which had occurred three years earlier: I... devoted myself to endless labor and Anxiety if not to infamy and death, and that for nothing, except, what indeed was and ought to be in all, sense of duty... [I] incurr[ed] a Clamour and hazarding popular Suspicions and prejudices which are not yet worn out and never will be forgotten... It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly, and disinterested Actions of my whole life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country. 12 It is worth noting that Adams sees his act as disinterested. He is not his client and assumes the independent stance of advocate at a time when popular passions regarding the preeminent political issue of his day were at their zenith See Marc Galanter, Lawyers in the Mist: The Golden Age of Legal Nostalgia, 100 DICK. L. REV. 549 (1996). 10. Michael Ariens, Know the Law: A History of Legal Specialization, 45 S.C. L. REV. 1003, 1007 (1994). 11. There has, however, been a recent discussion of Adams defense of British soldiers in the Boston Massacre in the ABA s Law Day held in Ed Finkel, John Adams Gets His Day, 97 A.B.A. J. 56 (2011) JOHN ADAMS, DIARY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN ADAMS 79 (L.H. Butterfield, ed.) (1962). 13. Adams defense is viewed as successful. Of his eight clients, six were acquitted and, although two were found guilty, Adams succeeded in having their sentence reduced from death to branding. The preeminent history of the Boston Massacre and the resulting trial and its aftermath is HILLER B. ZOBEL, THE BOSTON MASSACRE (1970).

6 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 6 2-JUL-12 11:49 12 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE LAW REVIEW [VOL. 31:7 2. Abraham Lincoln and the Country Lawyer Abraham Lincoln, given his fame, serves well as a figure representing so much of what the profession is currently not. While there is every reason to believe that Lincoln s contemporaries were generalists as he was, there is no lawyer of his time who has been even remotely researched as exhaustively as Lincoln. He can thus serve as a typical if (of course) extraordinarily notable lawyer of his time. While Lincoln s general philosophy of practice is often encapsulated in frequently repeated quotes, 14 the cases he undertook neatly encapsulate the paradigm of the non-specialist. 15 He handled numerous debtor-creditor matters, representing both the debtors and the creditors. He represented railroad corporations an enormously powerful business interest in Lincoln s time as well as individuals litigating against railroad corporations. He represented both in-state and out-of-state litigants in diversity cases. 16 While not an elected prosecutor, he assisted in prosecution by drafting indictments, acting as co-counsel, and serving directly as a state s attorney pro tem. 17 At the same time Lincoln had an active criminal defense practice. 18 He also practiced in what we would now call transactional work real estate matters, trusts and estates, general legal advice to individuals and businesses, and even patents. 19 This caseload is notable for several reasons. The first is its breadth: criminal law, debtor creditor, transactional practice, and commercial litigation these embody knowledge of disparate substantive areas of the law 14. Perhaps his most famous is cited as a precursor to the mediation movement and conceptions of more collaborative, problem-solving lawyering: Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker, the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will be business enough. THE WRITINGS AND SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 15 (Philip Van Doren Stern ed., 1961). 15. John A. Lupton, THE LAW PRACTICE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A NARRATIVE OVERVIEW, (last visited May 21, 2012). See also Ariens, supra note 10, at 1029 (Lincoln practiced law in the traditional manner, representing clients in all kinds of legal matters, and representing any clients who came to him ; [h]e refused to let the passions of the community determine the vigor of his defense of one who was criminally accused, and he remained an independent lawyer who knew the whole field of law ). For a searchable database of documents from cases in which Lincoln was involved, visit Search.aspx. 16. This opposing representation is all the more remarkable because railroads succeeded in transforming common law regarding who bears liability for property damages. Businesses, especially railroads, feared the financial consequences of judgments awarded to plaintiffs. Consider the result: At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the law of nuisance provided an almost exclusive remedy for indirect interferences with property rights, and courts were prepared to award damages for injury to property regardless of social utility or absence of carelessness. By the time of the Civil War, by contrast, American courts had created a variety of legal doctrines whose primary effect was to force those injured by economic activities to bear the cost of these improvements. MORTON J. HORWITZ, THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN LAW , at (1977); see also HERBERT HOVENKAMP, ENTERPRISE AND AMERICAN LAW , at (1991) (tracing the development of the public use doctrine to favor governmental subsidies to railroads). 17. Lupton, supra note Id. 19. Id.

7 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 7 2-JUL-12 11: ] PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY 13 that few modern practitioners could claim to possess. What is more important for purposes of this Article is how Lincoln smoothly moved from one side to another, representing criminal defendants to acting as prosecutor, representing large organizational entities to litigating against those entities. Here is Lincoln, like Adams before him, acting as the disinterested counselor who remains, as counselor, independent from those clients interests. B. The Current Ideal of Generalism and Attorney Independence Although widely critiqued, the rhetorical norms of the profession remain staunchly Lincolnesque. First, the Model Rules of Professional Conduct largely remain rules of general application, guiding all types of practice. While on very rare occasions some allowances are made for distinctive qualities of certain types of practice, particularly criminal law, 20 there is only a single rule out of 59 that explicitly does so: Rule 3.8 Special Responsibilities of a Prosecutor. 21 While lawyers may communicate the fact that the lawyer does or does not practice in particular fields of law, there remains a strong policy against taking this too far: in only rare cases can a lawyer state or imply that a lawyer is certified as a specialist in a particular field of law. 22 There has been a relatively modest call for specialized sets of ethical requirements that more closely reflect the different worlds in which lawyers practice. 23 Nevertheless, apart from binding codes regulating conduct before government agencies, 24 these calls have led to little meaningful action by entities that regulate lawyers. The ethical rules further embody the longstanding norm of decoupling the substance of representation from the content of representation. Under the heading Independence from Client s Views or Activities, the Model 20. MODEL RULES OF PROF L CONDUCT R. 3.1 (2008) (making special allowances that a lawyer for a criminal defendant may require that every element of the case be established); MODEL RULES OF PROF L CONDUCT R. 3.3(a)(3) (making special rules for reasonable belief about false testimony by a criminal defendant). In both of these instances, constitutional rights for a criminal defendant explicitly trump rules that otherwise apply in other contexts. 21. Arguably two other Rules address special roles an attorney might undertake: Rule 2.4 ( Lawyer Serving as a Third-Party Neutral ) and Rule 3.9 ( Advocate in Nonadjudicative Proceedings ). These examples, however, do not specify a special type of client an important point given the issues this Article seeks to address. 22. MODEL RULES OF PROF L CONDUCT R Interestingly, while such certified specializations are available to attorneys, only 3% of attorneys are so certified as compared to 80-90% of physicians. Thomas P. Sartwelle, Your Doctor is Board Certified. Is Your Lawyer?, 20 PROF L L. 1 (2011). One reason Sartwelle identifies for these figures is the notion that formal specialization detracts from a presumption that any licensed lawyer is competent to handle any legal problem. Id. at 20. Perhaps this represents the continuing influence of the Lincolnesque paradigm. 23. For general calls in favor of such specialized codes, see Stanley Sporkin, The Need for Separate Codes of Professional Conduct for the Various Specialties, 7 GEO. J. LEGAL ETHICS 149 (1993); Fred Zacharias, Reconceptualizing Ethical Roles, 65 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 169, 190 (1997) (collecting citations to specialized codes of conduct covering lawyers engaged in particular areas of practice ). 24. The most prominent recent example of agency regulation of attorneys is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which, in the wake of the Enron scandal, called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to pass a set of minimum standard of professional conduct for attorneys appearing and practicing before the Commission. 15 U.S.C (2006). The SEC subsequently did so. 17 C.F.R. 205 (2010).

8 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 8 2-JUL-12 11:49 14 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE LAW REVIEW [VOL. 31:7 Rules state that legal representation should not be denied to people... whose cause is controversial or the subject of popular disapproval and representing a client does not constitute approval of the client s views or activities. 25 John Adams would wholeheartedly approve. Interestingly, the disjunction between the realities of practice and the strict generalism of the Model Rules appears to be on the rise. Non-binding ethical codes and articles that do focus on distinct areas of practice are proliferating. Examples include family law, 26 admiralty, 27 and trusts and estates. 28 Professional identity is well illustrated here: the depth of professional identity in situ virtually has compelled these practitioners to craft their own guidelines because the ethical rules guiding a unitary professions do not. Another classic demonstration of the generalist paradigm is the law school curriculum, which is virtually unchanged since the time of Christopher Columbus Langdell in the nineteenth century. 29 The classic roster of first year classes Civil Procedure, Property, Torts, Criminal Law, and Constitutional Law is not about teaching the practice of criminal law or the practice of civil litigation. Rather, the endlessly repeated declaration of what legal education is about thinking like a lawyer has as its thrust the idea that thinking like a lawyer is consistent across practice areas. 30 Moreover, the ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools remains generalist in outlook, 31 and even recent critiques of legal education view professional identity in general ethical, social, and moral terms, none of which are keyed to particular areas of practice MODEL RULES OF PROF L CONDUCT R. 1.2 cmt. [5]. In somewhat contradictory fashion, the Rules also note that a lawyer should accept appointments to represent clients except for good cause, one of which is the client or the cause is so repugnant to the lawyer as to be likely to impair the client-lawyer relationship or the lawyer s ability to represent the client. MODEL RULES OF PROF L CONDUCT R. 6.2(c). 26. See AM. ACAD. OF MATRIMONIAL LAWYERS, BOUNDS OF ADVOCACY (2000); see also Model Standards of Practice for Family and Divorce Mediation (2001). 27. William W. Wright, Jr., Admiralty Law Institute Symposium: The Uniqueness of Admiralty and Maritime Law: Ethical Considerations in Representing Multiple Parties in Litigation, 79 TUL. L. REV (2005). 28. See AM. COLL. OF TRUSTS AND ESTATES COUNSEL FOUND., COMMENTARIES ON THE MODEL RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT (1993). 29. See ROBERT STEVENS, LAW SCHOOL: LEGAL EDUCATION IN AMERICA FROM THE 1850 S TO THE 1980 S (1983). 30. Indeed, legal education has traditionally eschewed practice let alone specialized practice areas as worthy of much attention. Christopher Columbus Langdell offers a pure form of this idea: to improve legal education it is indispensable to establish at least two things: first, that the law was a science; secondly, that all the available materials of that science are contained in printed books. Christopher C. Langdell, Address at the Commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of Harvard College (Nov. 5, 1886), in A RECORD OF THE COMMEMORATION, NOVEMBER FIFTH TO EIGHTH, 1886, ON THE TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF HARVARD COLLEGE 85 (1887). 31. ABA STANDARDS AND RULES OF PROCEDURE FOR APPROVAL OF LAW SCHOOLS 302 ( ) (requiring instruction in substantive law and other professional skills which are generally regarded as necessary for effective and responsible participation in the legal profession ). 32. See, e.g., WILLIAM M. SULLIVAN ET AL., EDUCATING LAWYERS: PREPARATION FOR THE PRO- FESSION OF LAW (2007). This influential study usually referred to as the Carnegie Report focuses on improving legal education in general terms, not to improve legal education in terms of

9 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 9 2-JUL-12 11: ] PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY 15 Finally, the Bar Exam, since its rise in the 1920 s, is a reflection of the pure generalism characteristic of the Model Rules and legal education. The subjects tested are the familiar ones long required in law schools. 33 While the bar examination has come under intense scrutiny, 34 testing superficial familiarity with standard law school fare is what the bar examination continues to try to do. Unlike board certifications in medicine, a barred lawyer can thus do anything without additional qualifications and without demonstrating expertise through further assessments. A superficial test of general knowledge thus remains the core qualification for admission to the bar despite the increasing specialization of the legal profession. III. PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY DEFINED In contrast to the generalist paradigm, the profession has become increasingly specialized, 35 decoupled from the steadfast generalism of professional regulation, legal education, and the licensing process. While some decry this trend, often building upon the generalist paradigm and recalling the image of Lincoln, most practicing lawyers view specialization as necessary to earn a living in the market for legal services. 36 Be that as it may, specialization has had another consequence: the creation of warring camps, groups of lawyers who exclusively represent one side within a specialty. This is professional identity as advocacy. This Article will now trace an early, perceptive articulation of the idea, and then explore how professional identity as advocacy has become a potent aspect of today s legal landscape. promoting substantive specialization. See also ROY STUCKEY ET AL., BEST PRACTICES FOR LEGAL ED- UCATION: A VISION AND A ROAD MAP 73 (2007) (describing core knowledge of the law as embodying conventional first year classes). 33. The Multistate Bar Examination tests contracts, torts, constitutional law, criminal law and procedure, evidence, and real property. THE MULTISTATE BAR EXAMINATION, multistate-tests/mbe/ (last visited Apr. 3, 2012). 34. Daniel R. Hansen, Do We Need the Bar Examination? A Critical Evaluation of the Justifications for the Bar Examination and Proposed Alternatives, 45 CASE W. RES. L. REV (1995). 35. For an exhaustive history and overview of specialization, see Ariens, supra note 10, at The influential ABA report on legal education, usually called the MacCrate Report, discusses how changing law and new complexities have put an increasing premium on specialization to maintain competence and keep abreast of subject matter. TASK FORCE ON LAW SCHS. AND THE PRO- FESSION: NARROWING THE GAP, LEGAL EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AN EDUCA- TIONAL CONTINUUM 42 (1992). Some argue that the trend is a positive development because it lowers the cost of legal services and helps insure greater competence. See Ariens, supra note 10, at

10 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 10 2-JUL-12 11:49 16 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE LAW REVIEW [VOL. 31:7 A. Llewellyn s Crucial Insight: Specialization Breeds Counter-Specialization Karl Llewellyn was and remains an influential figure in jurisprudence and legal education. 37 Among his many works, he wrote a remarkable article entitled The Bar Specializes: With What Results? 38 in 1933 almost precisely the midway point between Lincoln s time and ours. In it Llewellyn notes that the Bar has become increasingly specialized 39 and the new specialization is in contrast to what Llewellyn calls the tolerable roundedness of the old-fashioned American lawyer. 40 Llewellyn offers a crucial insight that goes deeper than these more conventional observations: specialization breeds counter-specialization. 41 In three words Llewellyn articulates how specialists are not merely discrete, independent islands of expertise. Rather, one area of specialization triggers an opposing specialization. There is, thus, not only an overarching specialization in personal injury. Rather, there is specialization on behalf of personal injury plaintiffs and a counter-specialization on behalf of personal injury defendants. This is far deeper than decrying specialization as a general matter in contrast to the generalist ideal. 42 It means that specialization is a process that recalls Newton s Third Law of Motion: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. B. Llewellyn s Insight Extended: Good Versus Evil Llewellyn s counter-specialization idea generates an important result: the opposition he identifies is one of good against evil. One group of specialist-practitioners will argue that its opponents are not motivated by the public good or by the norms of professionalism and integrity, but by pecuniary interests, self-aggrandizement, or some general sense of self-interest and badness. 43 Put another way, professional identity becomes merged into the interests of particular classes of clients who are good against another particular class of clients who are bad Llewellyn was a chief exponent of the important movement called Legal Realism. AMERI- CAN LEGAL REALISM 49 (William M. Fisher III et al. eds., 1993). His work is still frequently reprinted. One of his books THE BRAMBLE BUSH has been called one of the most popular introductions to the law and its study in the United States. Steve Sheppard, Introduction to KARL LLWELLYN, THE BRAMBLE BUSH, at ix (Steve Sheppard ed. 2008). 38. Karl Llewellyn, The Bar Specializes With What Results?, ANNALS AM. ACAD. POL. & SOC. SCI. 177 (1933). 39. Id. 40. Id. at Id. at 183 (emphasis added). 42. It is worth noting that, as with many evocations of the good old days, the old days might not have been so good, or at least so different, as current days. See Galanter, supra note 9, at 549 (arguing that a Golden Age argument emerges not from independent examination of the past but from the polemical thrust of a critique of the present ). 43. I will explore the mechanisms of how this operates in much more detail in the areas of personal injury and criminal law. See infra text accompanying notes Carl M. Selinger, The Public s Interest in Preserving the Dignity and Unity of the Legal Profession, 32 WAKE FOREST L. REV. 861, 870 (1997).

11 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 11 2-JUL-12 11: ] PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY 17 Social scientists offer an explanation about why this process gets underway and becomes so intractable and enduring. Humans self-identify with distinct groups which, by definition, are different from other groups. 45 Group identification can be across a dizzying number of categories even apart from perhaps the most prominent distinctions based on race, gender, religion, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. It can, for example, be based on socioeconomics, geography (whether by continent, country, region, county, city, neighborhood, block), politics, sports, employment, self-presentation (clothing, grooming), level of education, age, and many more. Some of these categories might be a core element of group-identity, or can become prominent in certain places and times. 46 Moreover, these self-identified groups have a cognitive basis and are deeply rooted in our psyches 47 and, once formed, are notoriously difficult to eradicate. They become part of the cognitive map through which we make sense of the world. 48 Integral to these group identities is the idea that one group almost always one s in-group is good while the out-group is bad. 49 Groups distinguish and diminish opposing groups what Cass Sunstein has called group polarization. 50 Yankee fans hate the Red Sox and vice versa, 45. For a recent and fascinating study of how quickly and seamlessly humans form into tribes even based on arbitrary criteria, see Daniel L. Shapiro, Relational Identity Theory: A Systematic Approach for Transforming the Emotional Dimension of Conflict, 65 AMER. PSYCH. 634 (2010). In Shapiro s experiment, a group of participants were randomly selected to sit at different tables. An alien then entered the room who said the world would be destroyed unless the tribes chose one tribe as the the tribe for anyone. Id. Despite the obvious interest for all concerned in reaching consensus on this representative tribe, the ensuing discussion descended into anger and recrimination. The tribes could reach no agreement. Id. at The notion of multiple identifications, or what is sometimes called intersectionality, tends to be submerged and simplified in discourse that emphasizes one-group identification. Consider Stanley Fish s amusingly detailed list of groups to which he belongs: I am, among other things, white, male, a teacher, a literary critic, a student of interpretation, a member of a law faculty, a father, a son, a husband (twice), a citizen, a (passionate) consumer, a member of the middle class, a Jew, the oldest of four children, a cousin, a brother-in-law, a son-in-law, a Democrat, short, balding, fifty, an easterner who has been a westerner and is now a southerner, a voter, a neighbor, an optimist, a department chairman. STANLEY FISH, DOING WHAT COMES NATURALLY 30 (1989). See also Wayne C. Booth, Introduction to Mikhail Bakhtin, in PROBLEMS WITH DOSTOYEVSKY S POETICS (Caryl Emerson ed. & trans. 1984), at xxi (describing Bakthin s idea about how meaning is constructed around the immense pluralities of experience based on, among other things, parent, clan, class, religion, country ). 47. Charles Stangor & James E. Lange, Mental Representations of Social Groups: Advances in Understanding Stereotypes and Stereotyping, in 26 ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 357 (1994); C. Neil Macrae et al., Stereotypes as Energy-Saving Devices: A Peek Inside the Cognitive Toolbox, 66 J. PERS. & SOC. PSYCH (1994). 48. See Macrae, supra note 47 ( for reasons of cognitive economy, we categorize others as members of particular groups groups about which we often have a great deal of generalized, or stereotypic, knowledge ) (quoting S.T. Fiske & S.L. Neubert, A Continuum Model of Impression formation from Category-Based To Individuating Processes: Influences of Information and Motivation on Attention and Interpretation, in ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 15 (M.P. Zanna, ed. 1990). 49. Cass Sunstein, Deliberative Trouble? Why Groups Go To Extremes, 110 YALE L.J. 71, 74, 91 (2000) (describing group polarization in light of the introduction of a rival outgroup ). For a similar description in the context of cognitive science, see ZOLTAN KOVESCES, LANGUAGE, MIND, AND CUL- TURE (2006) ( prejudices come in the form of structured opposites that correspond to relative in-groups and out-groups ). 50. Sunstein, supra note 49, at 74. Although in the context of discussing deliberative democracy, Sunstein offers a rich discussion of the psychological and sociological processes that lead group members to adopt increasingly extreme views.

12 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 12 2-JUL-12 11:49 18 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE LAW REVIEW [VOL. 31:7 and hate must be based on something, and that something must be good against evil. 51 The residents of that neighborhood are unsophisticated (bad), while this neighborhood s residents are caring and look out for each other (good). Seniors might decry kids these days as lazy or impudent or spoiled, while those kids might view seniors as out of touch, cranky, or narrow. The French think Americans are unrefined and boorish while Americans think the French are snobbish and unfriendly. There are deeply held norms of a binary universe at play here: they draw[ ] battle lines between the sons of light and the sons of darkness. 52 So how does this process play out in terms of the legal profession? C. The Lawyer as Moral Crusader and Charlatan Good lawyers fight for the people. Stories of lawyerly courage in the face of oppression and injustice run deep. They are, preeminently, in the realm of the civil rights movement. The importance of these events in tracing positive lawyer identity cannot be overstated. There remain powerful images of the fight for Civil Rights; 53 the ringing rejection of separate but equal in Brown v. Board of Education; 54 the image of Atticus Finch in the film 55 and book 56 To Kill a Mockingbird. As noted earlier, there is the compelling image of honest Abe Lincoln displaying unwavering integrity. 57 The popularity of shows involving lawyers particularly in criminal law continues unabated, 58 and, in these instances, as one commentator has put it, lawyers are shown as triumphing through law. 59 These images together represent the professional ideal in word and deed, struggling, and ultimately succeeding, in doing the right thing. 51. The sports analogy is a telling one. Research suggests how even the somewhat arbitrary nature of sports associations breeds enormous in- and out-group feeling to such an extent that [w]hoever you root for represents you. James C. McKinley, Sports Psychology: It Isn t Just a Game: Clues to Avid Rooting, N.Y. TIMES, Aug. 11, Like the Shapiro experiment, supra note 45, there is also the notion that rooting for sports teams relates to a primitive time when human beings lived in small tribes, and warriors fighting to protect tribes were true genetic representatives of their people. Id. 52. AMSTERDAM & BRUNER, supra note 4, at (quoting ELAINE PAGELS, THE ORIGINS OF SATAN 105 (1995)). 53. Perhaps the best-known volume tracing the history of the Civil Rights movement is TAYLOR BRANCH, PARTING THE WATERS: AMERICA IN THE KIND YEARS (1988) U.S. 483 (1954). 55. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (Universal Pictures 1962). 56. HARPER LEE, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1960). 57. See supra text accompanying notes The most prominent is the Law & Order franchise, which has spawned numerous spinoffs and has been on the air for 20 years as of the date of this writing. Law & Order (Universal Media Studios). Another famous example is Perry Mason, which was popular both as a television show and in numerous television movie spinoffs. Perry Mason (CBS Television Network). 59. Marc Galanter, Changing Legal Consciousness in America: The View from the Joke Corpus, 23 CARDOZO L. REV. 2223, 2238 (2002) (citing films where Justice is Done! and where lawyers succeed in vindicating the right ).

13 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 13 2-JUL-12 11: ] PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY 19 In contrast, images of bad lawyers abound. Lawyer jokes are acceptable and pervasive, and have generated scholarly attention 60 and analysis. 61 Among the identified categories of lawyer jokes: the lawyer as predator, lawyers as a destructive force, and lawyers as laboratory rats. 62 Numerous images of unscrupulous, greedy and/or self-aggrandizing lawyers remain embedded in modern popular media. 63 Professional advocacy as identity draws upon contradictory images of lawyers and appropriates the positive image for the in group while accusing the out group of embodying negative stereotypes. A key to success in this effort is to collapse the good stereotype into something that is viewed not as stereotype at all, but as reality. 64 Stereotypes become real, and, so a group would argue, the group is really like the good stereotype while the out-group is really the bad stereotype. There is moral condemnation at the foundation of this discourse. 65 IV. PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY IN TWO CONTEXTS Professional identity as advocacy plays out in different areas of law. My first two examples personal injury and criminal law are perhaps the most prominent instances of this dynamic today. 66 In both instances my goal is not to assess who is right and who is wrong. It is, rather to describe the rhetorical and narrative strategies through which professional advocacy is undertaken. 67 A. The Personal Injury Wars Plaintiffs and defendants in personal injury litigation are in economic equipoise, albeit perhaps not in an obvious way. The ultimate sources of 60. Marc Galanter has written an entire volume assessing and analyzing the impact of lawyer jokes. MARC GALANTER, LOWERING THE BAR: LAWYER JOKES AND LEGAL CULTURE (2005). For a summary of Galanter s findings and ideas, see Galanter, supra note For a website that collects and categorizes lawyer jokes, see Peter Tiersman, Lawyer Jokes: Truth and Nonsense about the Legal Profession, LAWYER JOKES, JOKES.HTM (last visited Apr 7, 2012). 62. Galanter, supra note 59, at 2228, 2230, See infra text accompanying notes Successful work in this regard is very much like success in advocacy more generally. See Clifford Geertz, Local Knowledge: Fact and Law in Comparative Perspective, in LOCAL KNOWLEDGE: FURTHER ESSAYS ON INTERPRETIVE ANTHROPOLOGY 167, 173 (1983) (noting that successful advocacy entails a matching process between what is said and what is real). 65. Marc R. Stanley, When Bad Companies Happen to Good People, 56 DRAKE L. REV. 517, 529 (2008). 66. Consider, for example, legal malpractice with its opposing camps of lawyers who represent lawyers sued for malpractice and plaintiffs suing lawyers. See, e.g., Joseph F. Cunningham et al., An Overlooked Defense to Professional Liability, 43 MD. BAR J. 4, (July/Aug. 2010) (referring to how [d]isgruntled plaintiffs proceed with clever arguments that demonstrate the increased ingenuity of... their new attorneys ). 67. While I have my personal sympathies, I resist taking sides. This article is about a process, not an assessment of the substance of that process.

14 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 14 2-JUL-12 11:49 20 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE LAW REVIEW [VOL. 31:7 compensation for lawyers on both sides are large organizations: defendants lawyers directly through hourly fees and plaintiff s lawyers less directly through contingent fees. 68 This means that unlike other areas of practice particularly those involving low-income litigants described below 69 there are resources available to both sides to not only articulate their professional identity, but to also communicate that identity. This is a recipe for intense professional identity as advocacy. 1. The Professional Identity of the Plaintiff s Bar There are two primary mechanisms through which the plaintiff s bar engages in group advocacy: advertising and professional organizations. A crucial element of expressing professional identity of the plaintiff s bar is through advertising. 70 Ads on billboards, television, buses and subways, yellow pages, and lists of best attorneys make the personal injury bar the most omnipresent segment of the legal profession in America. While such advertising is designed to attract clients, 71 it is the content of how this is done and how it expresses a consistent professional identity that is of importance here. Perhaps equally important, if less visible, are the efforts of the American Association for Justice the primary professional organization that acts on behalf of the personal injury bar. 72 The rhetoric employed by this group is consistent with the image fostered through advertising by the personal injury bar. a. Fighting for You Many communications from the personal injury bar note that personal injury lawyers will fight for you. 73 The second person pronoun you has 68. Gillian Hadfield, The Price of Law: How the Market for Lawyers Distorts the Justice System, 98 MICH. L. REV. 953, 956 (2000). 69. See infra text accompanying notes The line of Supreme Court cases establishing First Amendment protection for attorney advertising and tracing the limits of that protection has been of incalculable significance in enabling the personal injury bar to communicate its message and, thereby, intensifying professional group identity conflicts. See Bates v. State Bar of Ariz., 433 U.S. 350 (1977) (recognizing First Amendment protections for attorney advertising); Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Ass n, 436 U.S. 447 (1978) (establishing that prohibiting in-person solicitation is constitutional); Zauderer v. Office of Disciplinary Counsel, 471 U.S. 626 (1985) (targeted mailing to potential personal injury clients is constitutionally protected); Shapero v. Ky. Bar Ass n, 486 U.S. 466 (1988) (direct mail solicitation constitutional); Fla. Bar v. Went for It, Inc., 515 U.S. 618 (1995) (30 day blackout period for solicitation of potential personal injury clients is constitutional). 71. It should come as no surprise that this kind of advertising is successful at attracting clients, although competition among personal injury lawyers remains fierce. Sara Parikh, How the Spider Catches the Fly: Referral Networks in the Plaintiff s Personal Injury Bar, 51 N.Y.L. SCH. L. REV. 243, 264 (2006). As is so characteristic of discourse about personal injury practice, even the title of this article offers a not very subtle clue as to where the sympathy of the author lies in the personal injury wars. 72. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR JUSTICE, (last visited Apr. 7, 2012). 73. There are numerous examples. See Personal Injury Lawyers Can Fight for You, (last visited Apr. 11, 2012); LAW OFFICES

15 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 15 2-JUL-12 11: ] PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY 21 enormous power: the you addresses the reader directly. You necessarily entails non-you or, even more tellingly, a third person - them. 74 The you also extends to jurors the epitome of the plain old citizen 75 and the notion that tort reformers do not trust jurors to do the right thing. 76 The power of fight is also telling: one doesn t sue a powerful opponent: you fight against them in the mode of David and Goliath. 77 b. Your Rights Often these formulations place the issues at stake in terms of rights, thus situating the fight in constitutional terms. 78 Such a fight for rights recalls the paradigmatic image of the good lawyer the lawyer who fights for civil rights in the Civil Rights Movement sense of the term. 79 Yet even further is how this talk of rights and justice specifically places such lawsuits as vindicating law. Such cases are in the public interest a classic technique of the professional identity wars. 80 Perhaps these themes are best summed up by how the well-known organization representing the interests of the personal injury bar the American Trial Lawyers Association changed its name in 2007 to the American Association for Justice. 81 Its self-identified mission is to promote a fair and effective justice system. 82 c. The Other : Powerful Interests These formulations also link up with the deep-rooted populism long traceable in American history and American culture: the people 83 OF JEFF MARTIN, (last visited Apr. 7, 2012) (an experienced attorney will fight for you ); The Leading Top ezines Article Site on the Net, culture-and-society/you-should-find-a-top-maryland-personal-injury-attorney-to-fight-for-you/ (note the web address itself) (last visited Apr. 11, 2012); THE LAW OFFICES OF JOSEPH J. CARIGLIA, P.C., (last visited Apr. 7, 2012) ( we will fight for you, and we fight to win ). 74. For an account of the power of the second person pronouns, albeit in an entirely different context, see DAVID FOSTER WALLACE, A SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING I LL NEVER DO AGAIN (1997) (discussing the near imperative use of the second person in cruise ship advertising). 75. Stanley, supra note 65, at Perhaps ironically, a leading text on plaintiff representation in personal injury cases devotes a substantial amount of time on how to identify jurors who believe in tort reform in order to exercise peremptory challenges so they do not serve on juries. DAVID BALL, DAVID BALL ON DAMAGES (3d ed. 2011). 77. The David and Goliath image specifically emerges in some personal injury discourse. See The David and Goliath History of Our Civil Justice System against Toxic Waste and Environmental Harm, PANAMA CITY, FLA. INJURY LAWYER BLOG, the-david-v-goliath-history-our-civil-justice-system-against-toxic-waste-environme (Sept. 30, 2010). 78. LAW OFFICES OF TOBIN, REITMAN, GREENSTEIN, CARUSO, WIENER, KONRAY, & KESSLER, P.C., (last visited Apr. 7, 2012) ( we fight for the rights of injured people ). 79. See supra text accompanying notes See supra text accompanying note AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR JUSTICE, (last visited Apr. 7, 2012). 82. Id. 83. See MORGAN & MORGAN, (last visited Apr. 7, 2012).

16 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 16 2-JUL-12 11:49 22 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE LAW REVIEW [VOL. 31:7 against the special interests and the rich. 84 The American Association for Justice, for example, is taking on the most powerful interests. 85 The rhetoric can be heated: corporations are artificial creatures 86 who, as noted above, confront a system of David v. Goliath. 87 The personal injury lawyer is David with the slingshot and the only chance an ordinary citizen has to fight the power. One law firm sets up the distinctions quite neatly: the firm is dedicated to protecting the people, not the powerful. 88 Another formulation is as follows: Corporations Value Profits Over Safety We aggressively pursue personal injury and wrongful death claims on behalf of our clients, seeking to hold corporations accountable for ignoring safety measures in order to turn a quick profit. We.... tak[e] on powerful interests, including the oil and gas companies Counterattack: Professional Identity and the Defense Bar The personal injury defense bar primarily consists of firms retained by insurers and, in the case of large class action toxic tort matters, by departments within law firms. Given that this practice almost exclusively represents organizations, it would not be feasible or effective to market services to the general public. Moreover, the defense bar faces a substantial challenge in promoting the collective interests of their clients. These firms represent clients who are not easily portrayed in sympathetic terms. After all, insurance companies and large organizations are hardly well-regarded in the popular imagination. Nevertheless, the defense bar deploys and draws upon a set of stories to support its own morality tale of good versus evil. a. A Creation Myth The defense bar has its own organization to articulate its identity and interests the Defense Research Institute ( DRI ). Calling itself the 84. For an overview of populist rhetoric in American culture and politics, see MICHAEL KAZIN, THE POPULIST PERSUASION: AN AMERICAN HISTORY (1995); see also WILLIAM F. HOLMES, AMERICAN POPULISM (1994). 85. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR JUSTICE, (last visited Apr. 7, 2012). 86. Stanley, supra note 65, at Id. at ATLANTA PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY, CIVIL RIGHTS, WHISTLEBLOWER LAWYER, (last visited Apr. 7, 2012); see also Personal Injury Attorneys Stand up for you Against Powerful Business and Corporate Interests, LAW OFFICES OF PAUL WHITFIELD & ASSOCIATES, interests.pdf (stories about unreasonable positions taken by personal injury defendants with document titled as stated in the url address). 89. PHILADELPHIA PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY, (last visited Apr. 7, 2012).

17 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 17 2-JUL-12 11: ] PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY 23 voice of the defense bar, 90 DRI is explicit in articulating its role as filling a need for a voice to counter plaintiff s attorneys. 91 Consider the following story told by DRI about its origins a creation myth, if you will: While defense attorneys continued to handle the defense of individual claims in a traditional, time-proven manner, plaintiffs lawyers began to use new tactics and fashion novel arguments to boost the amount of awards... Blackboard arguments and other hitherto unknown courtroom tactics were inflating the damages for pain and suffering to astronomical amounts. Contingent fees grew disproportionately, and legal liability was being extended beyond the bounds of reason. On the legislative front, plaintiffs representatives began to appear before legislative committees to seek expanded liability while opposing any sort of reform in the personal injury law. 92 The story continues that [d]efense lawyers recognized the growing danger and the harmful impact that excessive awards would have on the civil justice system, hence the need to unite the defense effort through the founding of DRI. 93 This story is a history by a professional in-group about the rise of a bad out-group, which, in turn, prompts the need for the in-group the white hats to counter the social ill generated by the greed of the outgroup. 94 Note that the history is driven by plaintiffs lawyers and plaintiffs representatives : the players in this narrative are clearly one lawyer group against another lawyer group. Also note that in a remarkable parallel with the discourse of the plaintiffs bar, it is law, the very civil justice system itself that is at stake and on whose behalf the defense bar is struggling to vindicate against the forces of evil. This story demonstrates professional identity as advocacy. Nevertheless, the story only suggests the more powerful story that is at the core of the defense bar s identity advocacy: the litigation explosion. 90. DRI, (last visited Apr. 7, 2012). 91. A History of DRI, DRI 1 (2005), History2005.pdf. 92. Id. It is noteworthy that this narrative also hearkens to an earlier time a traditional, time proven way of lawyering thus contrasting the trouble caused by personal injury lawyers with the ideal of Abraham Lincoln and Atticus Finch. See supra text accompanying notes 14 19, Id. at There are also remarkable instances of attempting more explicitly to appropriate the stock figure of the good lawyer in terms I have already discussed. See supra text accompanying notes One example is an explicit comparison of a President of DRI to Atticus Finch the embodiment of integrity in the face of injustice. Steven T. Taylor, Dallas Lawyer with Atticus Finch-Like Attributes Leads the Voice of the Defense Bar, 27 OF COUNSEL 7 (2008).

18 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 18 2-JUL-12 11:49 24 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE LAW REVIEW [VOL. 31:7 b. The Litigation Explosion A central image in the personal injury discourse is that America is being overrun by a litigation explosion. 95 What is remarkable is that this notion is contradicted by empirical studies of judicial dockets, which consistently show that the area of litigation growing most rapidly is commercial litigation. 96 Indeed, sometimes the litigation explosion is accepted as a given, thus warranting no or minimal independent support. 97 Perhaps the key to how the litigation explosion is articulated and understood is through anecdotes of laughable overreaching by the plaintiffs bar. Such anecdotes carry enormous rhetorical power. 98 The following discussion surveys a few of the more striking stories of this type. i. Of Seesaws and Childhood Obesity Life Without Lawyers: Liberating Americans from Too Much Law by Philip K. Howard 99 is a recent book ostensibly devoted to how, as its name suggests, law and laws are ruining the country. In the book and in interviews, it is clear that Howard, despite the broadly framed title, does not mean too much law and lawyers in the general sense; rather, he is referring only to tort law and personal injury lawyers. 100 In making his argument, Howard employs a series of ghastly anecdotes. 101 One involves the looming threat of seesaw litigation: If any child who falls on a seesaw can sue, all seesaws will be removed from playgrounds, which results in the consistent removal of school playgrounds, which leads to the larger 95. Michael D. Johnston, The Litigation Explosion, Proposed Reforms, and Their Consequences, 21 BYU J. PUB. L.179, 180 (2007); David Neubaer & Stephen S. Meinhold, Too Quick to Sue? Public Perceptions of the Litigation Explosion, 16 JUST. SYS. J. 1 (1994). 96. See EXAMINING THE WORK OF STATE COURTS, 2002: A NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE FROM THE COURT STATISTICS PROJECT (Brian J. Ostrom et al. eds., 2003) (noting that tort filings decreased in 30 states surveyed); Marc Galanter, The Life and Times of the Big Six: Or, the Federal Courts Since the Good Old Days, 1988 WIS. L. REV. 945 (the largest increase in civil federal court findings is in commercial litigation). 97. See, e.g., Johnston, supra note 95, at 180 (arguing that there is substantial evidence of a litigation explosion that is consuming the productivity, profits, and general effectiveness of many American industries while noting in a footnote that the seriousness of the problem is hotly disputed ). 98. An element of this power is how crucial if not essential narratives are in understanding experience and reality. For an example in the context of the development of law, see ANTHONY G. AMSTERDAM & JEROME BRUNER, MINDING THE LAW (2000) ( [k]nowing how to tell [stories] and to comprehend them may be part of our human survival kit ). Perhaps the seminal article on the role of narrative in legal discourse is Robert Cover, The Supreme Courts, 1982 Term Forward: Nomos and Narrative, 97 HARV. L. REV. 4 (1983). For other excellent discussions of narrative and the law, see Steven L. Winter, The Cognitive Dimension of the Agon between Legal Power and Narrative Meaning, 87 MICH. L. REV (1989). For a more general non-legal treatment, see LOUIS O. MINK, NARRA- TIVE FORM AS A COGNITIVE INSTRUMENT, IN The Writing of History: Literary Form and Historical Understanding (Robert H. Canary & Henry Kozicki, eds. 1978); Hayden White, The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality, 7 CRITICAL INQUIRY 5 (1980). 99. PHILIP K. HOWARD, LIFE WITHOUT LAWYERS: LIBERATING AMERICANS FROM TOO MUCH LAW (2009) See generally id Non Fiction Review: Life without Lawyers: Liberating Americans from Too Much Law, PUB- LISHER S WEEKLY, (last visited Apr. 7, 2012).

19 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 19 2-JUL-12 11: ] PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AS ADVOCACY 25 problem of childhood obesity. 102 Rhetorically, the statement is a string not only of possibilities but also of inevitabilities: all falls from seesaws will generate lawsuits; all seesaws will be removed from playgrounds; the lack of seesaws will cause childhood obesity. While logicians would find this reasoning dubious at best, the argument demonstrates elements typical of professional identity rhetoric: a ridiculous example of litigation (seesaw cases) and how this type of litigation generates social harm which is not in the public interest. In this instance, the choice of the ridiculous suit is particularly compelling: innocent playground equipment the stuff of childhood innocence is being taken away, which not only eliminates fun, but exacerbates a well-publicized and intensifying public health threat to children. 103 This is an image of a personal injury lawyer not only as a killjoy, but as, quite literally, guilty of child endangerment. It is also notable that Howard is a large firm partner 104 a theme to be explored later in the Article. ii. Of McDonald s and Million Dollar Pants The famous case of a massive award for spilled McDonald s coffee 105 triggered satire in Seinfeld 106 and is so embedded in the American psyche that a book on personal injury advocacy offers advice on voir dire of jurors should the McDonald s Coffee case crop up. 107 While some have sought to correct the ridiculous image with the seriousness of what really happened, 108 which is far more sympathetic than the myth suggests, the power of the story remains Rachel M. Zahorsky, Now is the Time for Life Without Lawyers, Says Covington & Burling Partner, ABA J. DAILY, says_covington_burling_partner (last visited Apr. 7, 2012) In 2010 alone, at least three books have been published regarding this issue. ROBERT A. PRETLOW, OVERWEIGHT: WHAT KIDS SAY: WHAT S REALLY CAUSING THE CHILDHOOD OBESITY EPI- DEMIC (2010); PREVENTING CHILDHOOD OBESITY: EVIDENCE POLICY AND PRACTICE (Elizabeth Waters et al., eds.) (2010); JENNIFER A. O DEA, CHILDHOOD OBESITY PREVENTION: INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH, CONTROVERSIES, AND INTERVENTIONS (2010). The Center for Disease Control considers the problem significant enough to devote a separate section of its website to it. Obesity and Overweight, THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL, (last visited Apr. 7, 2012) Howard is a partner at Covington and Burling. Zahorsky, supra note Only an order, not an opinion, was issued in the case. Liebeck v. McDonald s Restaurants, P.T.S., Inc., No. CV , 1995 WL (Bernalillo County, N.M. Dist. Ct. Aug. 18, 1994) Mark B. Greenlee, Kramer v. Java World: Images, Issues, and Idols in the Debate over Tort Reform, 26 CAP. U.L. REV. 701 (1997). Greenlee describes the episode, along with quotes from the dialogue, in detail. Id. at BALL, supra note 76, at 87. Ball s advice is for attorneys not to convince prospective jurors whether the verdict was fair or not, but, rather, do nothing but ask questions about it and take no sides. Evidently the issue of spilled beverage liability has become serious enough to warrant a separate American Law Reports entry. Michelle C. Kaminsky, Liability for Vendor for Food or Beverage Spilled on Customer, 64 A.L.R. 5th (1998) Such efforts have been published in both law reviews and in bar journals. Kevin G. Cain, And Now the Rest of the Story... : The McDonald s Coffee Lawsuit, 11 J. CONSUMER & COM. L. 14 (2007); Greenlee, supra note 106; Steven A. Meyer, Too Bad to Be True, 28 PA. LAW 43, 44 (2006) (the subtitle of the article is [w]hen someone tells a story about an outrageous jury decision, check it out: Odds are it may never have happened ).

20 \\jciprod01\productn\m\msl\31-1\msl102.txt unknown Seq: 20 2-JUL-12 11:49 26 MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE LAW REVIEW [VOL. 31:7 And then there is the story of how, as a New York Times article put it, a Judge Tries Suing Pants Off Dry Cleaners. 109 In this instance, an administrative law judge sued a neighborhood dry cleaner for $67.3 million for misplacing his pants. 110 While not as pervasive as the McDonald s case, the story of the judge and his pants still became a worldwide symbol of legal abuse by seeking jackpot justice 111 a preposterous circumstance assumed to be representative of litigation. In the rhetoric of professional identity, the underlying validity of these stories as both true and representative are accepted without question. They both establish and reinforce stories of frivolous lawsuits, greed, and overreaching the defining characteristics of the litigation explosion and, by extension, what the plaintiffs bar is all about. 3. Battle Is Joined In response to the McDonald s Coffee tale, the personal injury bar decries those who concoct mythical lawsuit anecdotes and generalize from the occasional aberrant case. 112 Moreover, as noted above, 113 the term trial lawyers itself has become such an epithet in political discourse that the most prominent association of personal injury attorneys recently changed its name from the American Association of Trial Attorneys to the American Association for Justice 114 a telling attempt to seize the moral high ground in the push/pull of professional advocacy. Indeed, there is a deep political and ideological dimension to this debate, with liberal trial lawyers wary of free market capitalism 115 and conservative political leaders arguing in favor of tort reform. 116 In the end, what is striking is how the debate focuses on lawyers themselves and their rhetoric as a group, with each group excoriating the motives and social impact of the professional activities of the other group. B. Criminal Justice As the center of law and the popular imagination, criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors assume mythical roles of good against evil, both 109. Ariel Sabar & Suevon Lee, Judge Tries Suing Pants off Dry Cleaners, N.Y. TIMES, June 13, 2007, at A Id. For the denouement, see Ariel Sabar, In Case of Missing Trousers, Aggrieved Party Loses Again, N.Y. TIMES, June 26, 2007 (the trial court found that that the plaintiff is not entitled to any relief whatsoever ) Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, CAFA s Impact on Litigation as a Public Good, 29 CARDOZO L. REV. 2517, 2525 (2008) (quoting Lubna Takuri, Judge Rules in Favor of Dry Cleaner in $54M Suit Over Missing Pants, LAW.COM (June 26, 2007), Stanley, supra note 65, at See supra text accompanying notes Stanley, supra note 65, at Id. (in the context of defending personal injury lawsuits, offering a contrary view to the notion that the free market regulates itself ) Litigation and Professional Responsibility: Is Overlawyering Overtaking Democracy?, 21 GEO. J. LEGAL ETHICS 1433 (2008) (transcript of panel). This political divide should not be simplified, however, as some conservative Christian groups argue against tort reform. Stanley, supra note 65, at 529.

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